By Richard Kubitzki
Joseph-DuMont-Vocational College

Japan has ignored Koreans that it forced to work on Hashima (Battleship) Island, something considered impossible in Germany because of the latter's rich culture of remembering history.

In Korea, criticism has recently grown over Japan completely forgetting about Koreans forced to work at a coal mine on Hashima Island during World War II. This is because an exhibition at the Industrial Heritage Information Centre opened on June 15 in Tokyo showed nothing about the hardships of such victims on the island.

Germany also has painful memories of forced labor during the war. To remember the past, the nation has worked with the governments of the countries it invaded to never forget such history. Germany commemorates the oppressed and murdered in unique ways. This is particularly true not just for victims of the Holocaust but also those forced to work by the Nazis.

In 2006, the Documentation Center for Nazi Forced Laborers was founded on the site of a former forced labor camp in the Berlin district of Treptow-Köpenick. The facility documents the situation of forced laborers during the Nazi era and remains the only one of its kind to this day.

Assessing history is essential for paving the way toward a more positive future with all nations involved. The information center set up by Japan, however, provides very selective documentation to present history. Unlike in German exhibitions, the one at the center makes no mention of Japan's abduction of people for forced labor or any report on the victims' harsh conditions.

This is extremely worrisome. In Germany, the suffering of forced laborers was initially treated as a minor issue for many years. People living abroad, including many of the victims, were practically excluded from compensation. This changed in 2000, however, when the German government set up Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future in Berlin, which provides symbolic compensation for foreign victims of forced labor and promotes international reconciliation projects. Berlin and over 6,000 German companies each put up half of the financial support for the initiative. The foundation's initial budget was EUR 5.2 billion at its inception, and ongoing projects are financed by interest income.

Through this foundation, Germany's government, corporate sector and society assumed political and moral responsibility for the injustices experienced by all of the victims of the Nazis. Since the foundation was opened, EUR 97.7 million has gone into almost 4,000 projects. Many executive seats in the foundation were allocated to victim nations in the war, thus enabling concrete reconciliation through this organization.

The attitude of the Japanese government is decidedly different. In 2018, the Korean Supreme Court ruled that victims of Japan's forced labor could claim individual compensation, including from Japanese industrial giants Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Tokyo rejected this ruling, however, as "extremely unfortunate and completely unacceptable."

On Japan's rejection of the Korean ruling, one can only say Europe is more advanced in this aspect. The European Court of Justice has long enforced the law equally in all 27 European United member countries. This high court never considers one nation's interests and instead seeks to ensure justice for all EU states. If Asia had such an authority, the Japanese economy could not defend itself against the legitimate concerns of forced laborers.

Germany's society and economy took a long time to accept their historical responsibilities. This process is not yet complete, but overall, the country has built very good relations with many of its European neighbors through its efforts. And the German people also consider these efforts crucial.

Japan’s information center should correctly display the truth. Just because Koreans worked in Japanese society at the time does not mean that they were treated the same as Japanese; they were Korean victims of forced labor. In Germany, such behavior by an official information center would never be tolerated. 

Richard Kubitzki has taught politics, biology and physical education at the Joseph-DuMont-Vocational College in Cologne since 2002.

Translated by Korea.net staff writer Yoon Sojung.